physics and astronomy · 2020. 11. 20. · cwsei department summary report version of 2020-11-19...

CWSEI Department Summary Report Version of 2020-11-19

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Physics and Astronomy CWSEI Department Summary

This document summarizes the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s activities as part of the Carl

Wieman Science Education Initiative over the years 2007-2019. In this initial version, it replaces a series

of web pages that were updated over the lifetime of the CWSEI. It may be updated in future with more

detail on impact.

For questions, please contact:

Georg Rieger ([email protected]) or Warren Code ([email protected])

Contents Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 2

People ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Activities ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Curriculum........................................................................................................................................... 4

Courses ............................................................................................................................................... 5

Course Resources .............................................................................................................................. 15

Physics 408: Optics ........................................................................................................................ 15

Courses archived in the SEI course materials system at https://sei.ubc.ca/ are .............................. 15

Teaching Assistant Development ....................................................................................................... 16

Course-specific TA development: ................................................................................................... 16

TA workshop and mentoring: ......................................................................................................... 16

Graduate course in teaching and learning physics & astronomy: .................................................... 16

Research............................................................................................................................................ 17

Paired Teaching ............................................................................................................................. 17

Two-Stage Exam Studies ............................................................................................................... 17

Sims to Enhance Pre-reading ......................................................................................................... 17

Student Attitudes about Experimental Science ............................................................................. 17

Student Attitudes on Learning Astronomy .................................................................................... 17

Scientific Reasoning During Lab Experiments ................................................................................ 17

PER PhD Thesis .............................................................................................................................. 18

Gender Issues During Lab Experiments ......................................................................................... 18

TA-Student Interactions ................................................................................................................ 18

Invention Activities and Lab Diagnostic......................................................................................... 18

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Two-Stage Exams .......................................................................................................................... 18

Reformed Phys 100 labs ................................................................................................................ 18

Pre-Reading Study ......................................................................................................................... 19

Effectiveness of Astronomy Tutorial Exercises .............................................................................. 19

Impact of Pre-Reading on student questions ................................................................................ 19

Impact of Learning Goals............................................................................................................... 19

Peer Discussion Effect on Knowledge Retention ........................................................................... 19

Conceptual Inventories ................................................................................................................. 19

CLASS surveys ............................................................................................................................... 19

Newsletters ....................................................................................................................................... 19

Impact ................................................................................................................................................... 21

Transformed course counts ............................................................................................................... 21

Impact in terms of seats/registrations ............................................................................................... 21

Publications and Presentations .............................................................................................................. 22

Related Department Links ..................................................................................................................... 26

Overview

Physics & Astronomy received seed funding in 2007 and began their SEI efforts in the Fall of that year.

The department moved to full funding starting in 2008.

A new phase began in 2014 – the Harris Project – an extension of CWSEI that runs from 2014 to 2017. In

addition to continuing course transformations and faculty support, this phase includes deliberate effort

toward effective transfer of pedagogies to new instructors using a co-teaching (paired teaching) model.

This project is funded by John and Deb Harris, the UBC Faculty of Science, and the Physics & Astronomy

Department.

More details on the different aspects of the program are given in the Activities section and sub-sections.

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/departments/physics-astro_activities.htm


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People

CWSEI Dept. Director: Joss Ives, Georg Rieger (emeritus), Doug Bonn (emeritus), Georg Rieger

(emeritus), Mona Berciu (emeritus)

STLFs: Electra Eleftheriadou, Linda Strubbe, Jared Stang, James Day, Jim Carolan, Louis Deslauriers, Ido

Roll, Peter Newbury, Cynthia Heiner

Faculty: D. Bonn, J. Folk, B. Gladman, J. Iqbal, D. Jones, J. Ives, A. Kotlicki, K. Madison, J. Matthews, M.

Pavan, H. Richer, I. Stairs, M. Van Raamsdonk, S. Reinsberg, G. Rieger, L. Van Waerbeke, C. Waltham, C.

Wieman, J. Zibin, S. Burke, D. Witt, V. Sossi, J. Roettler, J. Charbonneau, S. Bates, J.Young, D. Bryman, I.

Affleck, V. Hinkov

Students: J. Bale, D. Fujimoto, F. Moosvi, E. Altiere, S. Berkman, N. Holmes, S. Martinuk, D. Mazur, B.

Ramshaw, E. Schelew, M. Sitwell, J. Stang (later an STLF), S. Vafaei, C. Veenstra, T. Vernstrom, M.

Warren, R. Wong

Activities

Overview of the items detailed in this document (some further resources are on the website

https://cwsei.ubc.ca/outcomes/departments/physicsastronomy ):

Curriculum: Extensive diagnostic testing of conceptual understanding is starting to uncover information

that will inform upcoming curriculum decisions.

Course Redesign: 22 courses are undergoing or have completed transformation.

Course Resources: Materials for some of the transformed courses (learning goals, in-class activities,

homework,...).

Teaching Assistants Development: We have created a teaching assistants workshop which now runs

during the first week of classes every September, and a new graduate course in pedagogy in Physics &

Astronomy.

https://cwsei.ubc.ca/outcomes/departments/physicsastronomyhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/images/People%20Photo/Phys-Group.jpg


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Research: Numerous Physics & Astronomy education research studies have sprung out of the course

redesign efforts.

Newsletters: 2010-2012, we published a newsletter focusing on various teaching activities taking place

in conjunction with the CWSEI STLFs.

Curriculum

The large first-year physics courses (PHYS 101 & PHYS 102) include 6 3-hour lab experiments. Because it

is so difficult to sync the concepts presented in multiple lecture sections with the experiments, we are

trying to convert the lab experiments to self-contained “learning units.” These would include pre-lab

exercises and lab activities that contain all the necessary information. Wherever they are in the

sequence of lectures, instructors could use these experiments to preview what’s coming next, to

reinforce what they’re currently covering, or to wrap up already-covered topics. The development and

testing of several activities and pre-lab exercises started in the Summer 2010 PHYS 102 section.

Extensive diagnostic testing by Jim Carolan and Louis Deslauriers uncovered information that will inform

curriculum decisions. Extensive testing of first and upper year students using an electricity and

magnetism concept survey (BEMA) is providing information on learning gains and retention. The results

from the survey are being used in decisions about merging the Eng. Phys and Honours Phys. streams of

E&M. These results also feed into decisions about the freshman treatment of E&M concepts. There are

also efforts to optimize the way E&M topics are covered in various courses, at all levels, to formulate a

set of coherent learning goals for these courses and to insure that faculty will strive to achieve these

learning goals in the future.

Poster (CWSEI EOY 2011): Tracking Students' Knowledge of Electricity and Magnetism from 1st to 3rd

Year

Widespread deployment of CLASS student attitudes about science surveys in all first year courses, with

testing done in September, at the end of the first term, and again at the end of the second term.

Jim Carolan looked at 2008-2014 survey data with a special focus on gender differences. He also looked

at FCI, MBT, CLASS, and BEMA results in several courses as a function of time.

Louis Deslauriers has developed a math diagnostic to assess upper-level physics students’ grasp of the

math skills needed to succeed in the senior courses. This tool will be used to make judgments about

curriculum and will feed discussions with the math department about their curriculum. This

complements the math department’s own efforts on entrance-level testing of math skills. A math

diagnostic for first-year math has also been automated. The two diagnostics are available online at:

First Year Diagnostic: http://cwsei-diagnostics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/first-year-math-diagnostic/

Upper Year Diagnostic: http://cwsei-diagnostics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/upper-level-math-diagnostic-exam/

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Carolan_Jim_TrackingStudsKnowledge.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Carolan_Jim_TrackingStudsKnowledge.pdfhttp://cwsei-diagnostics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/first-year-math-diagnostic/http://cwsei-diagnostics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/upper-level-math-diagnostic-exam/http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Carolan_Jim_TrackingStudsKnowledge.pdf


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Courses

Status as of May 2016:

Course Learning goals New Assessments Improved Methods

ASTR 310:

Exploring the

Universe I: The

Solar System

(Summer ’08 –

2012)

Faculty: Brett

Gladman, Harvey

Richer

STLF: Peter

Newbury

Grad Student: M.

Milkeratis, S.

Lawler, M. Gendre,

S. Vafaei

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2011): Shifting

to a Copernican

Model of the Solar

System by Shifting

Away from a

Copernican Model

of Teaching

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2009):

Exploring the Solar

System with a

Human Orrery

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2009):

Interactive Tutorial

Activities in ASTR

310

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Improved midterm

and final exam

questions based on

assessing learning

goals

Created 6 activities for tutorials including

guidelines for TAs for facilitating the

activities

Using MasteringAstronomy for Just-in-time

teaching (Gladman)

Aligning lecture material with learning goals

Peer instruction using clickers (Richer)

Using Lecture-Tutorial workbooks (Richer)

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_ConceptSurvey_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_ConceptSurvey_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_ConceptSurvey_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_ConceptSurvey_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_ConceptSurvey_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Newbury_Peter_ShiftingToCopernican.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_ConceptSurvey_ASTR310.pdf


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ASTR

311: Exploring the

Universe II: Stars

and Galaxies

(Summer ’09 –

2012)

Faculty: Ingrid

Stairs, Jeremy Heyl,

Ludovic Van

Waerbeke, Jim

Zibin

STLF: Peter

Newbury

Grad Student: M.

Gendre, T.

Vernstrom

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2010):

Transforming

Introductory

Astronomy: from

Learning Goals to

Instruction &

Assessment

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Developed pre/post

concept test for

tutorial activities

Improved final

exam based on

learning goals

Light and

Spectroscopy

Concept Inventory

(LSCI) pre- and post-

test (Stairs)

Pre-, Post-testing

with the Test of

Astronomy

Standard

Developed 7 50-minute activities for

tutorial sessions including guidelines for

TAs for facilitating the activities

Intense focus on learner-centered

instruction: peer-instruction with clickers,

lecture-tutorial workbook, in-class

worksheets (Stairs)

PHYS 100:

Introductory

Physics (Sept ’07 –

ongoing)

Faculty: Georg

Rieger, Andrzej

Kotlicki, Stefan

Reinsberg

STLF: Ido Roll, Jim

Carolan

Grad Student: F.

Moosvi, M. Sitwell,

S. Berkman

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Lab goals

revised

towards skills

development:

complete

Conducted study on

impact of learning

goals on student

self assessment of

understanding

Lab diagnostic

developed and

interviews

conducted

Improved the lab

skills assessment -

given to students

on the first and last

weeks of the term

Provided feedback for clicker question

improvement and more student

engagement in lectures

Revised the labs - they now include a

homework component in which students

do the actual experiments prior to coming

to the lab for data analysis. The labs and

homework build on each other so that each

component is required for the subsequent

task; so they create a sequence in which

students use new tools to analyze old data,

or collect more data to improve conclusions

from data collected earlier, etc.

Added clickers to the lab – a couple of

clickers at the beginning of class are used to

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Newbury_TransformingASTR.pdf


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Video

Paper (Physics

in Canada, 2014): A

“flipped” approach

to large-scale first-

year labs

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2013):

Interactions

between teaching

assistants and

students boost

engagement in

physics labs

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2012):

Transforming and

Evaluating the

Physics 100 Labs

Conducted study

comparing different

forms of invention

activities an support

for group work

Use of the CLASS

survey to monitor

students’ attitudes

over several years

during course

transformation

Used two-stage

midterm exams

Evaluated all labs

using surveys and

interviews

Use of a frequent-

testing approach

recap previous labs. Several clickers at the

end of the lab are used to summarize the

lab and frame the discussion about what

was done during that specific lab.

Description of the reformed lab and lab

worksheets are now available at

http://www.phas.ubc.ca/teaching-support

Use of Learning Catalytics and bi-weekly

quizzes. (2014)

Development of an online lab section with

experiments at home and online support

Developed a blended resource for use in

face-to-face and online sections based on

an edX platform. Integrated open-stax

textbook and labs at home.

PHYS 101: Energy

and Waves

(2007–2015 for

transformation;

paired teaching

ongoing)

Faculty: Fran Bates,

Georg Rieger,

Cynthia Heiner,

Javed Iqbal, Alex

Mackay

STLF: Jared Stang

(2015-)

Cynthia Heiner,

Peter Newbury

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2013):

Productive

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Conducted survey

targeting students

approach to and

learning from pre-

readings, clickers,

and in-class

worksheets

Used two-stage

exams (summer)

Conducted survey

targeting attitudes

towards two-stage

exams

Joss Ives is currently

developing a

diagnostic test

Developed new lab experiments on

measurement/uncertainty and interference

Complete set of in-class activities and

worksheets developed

Complete set of pre-reading assignments

developed

Use of PeerWise in spring and summer. A

similar tool that expands the capability of

PeerWise to different learning objects is

currently under development for

Blackboard/Connect, with the goal of

supporting pre-class reading.

Paired teaching in one section: pairing of a

research scientist with a PER specialist

Using two-stage exams consistently in

http://blogs.ubc.ca/wpvc/intro-physics-active-classhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Roll_TransfPhys100Lab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Roll_TransfPhys100Lab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Roll_TransfPhys100Lab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Roll_TransfPhys100Lab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Roll_TransfPhys100Lab.pdfhttp://www.phas.ubc.ca/teaching-supporthttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Roll_PhET-sims_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Roll_PhET-sims_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Roll_PhET-sims_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://blogs.ubc.ca/wpvc/intro-physics-active-classhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Stang-Roll_PhAsLabObserve_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Roll_TransfPhys100Lab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Roll_PhET-sims_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdf


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Engagement with

PhET Simulations

click here to

view course

materials

specifically for PHYS

101 content.

midterms and finals from Fall 2014 onwards

Learning object assessments deployed in

W2 sections (2013 and 2014). Initially

through Connect, now entirely within UBC

Blogs (including assessment).

Paired teaching (Spring 2016): pairing two

STLFs (Stang & Strubbe)

PHYS 102 (now

PHYS 118):

Electricity, Light

and Radiation

(Sept ’09 – 2015)

Faculty: Georg

Rieger, Fran Bates,

Vesna Sossi, Joerg

Roettler, James

Charbonneau

STLF: Jared Stang

(2015-)

Peter Newbury,

Louis Deslaurier

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Creating pre-lab

exercises using

PhET simulations.

Used two-stage

exams (summer)

Used the BEMA

diagnostic

Fully interactive environment

Developing complete set of reading

assignments, clicker questions, and

worksheets

Revising lab experiments

Use of the Washington Tutorials



PHYS 107 & 109:

Enriched Physics 1

lab and Intro to

Experimental

Physics (Sept ’07 –

ongoing)

Faculty: Doug Bonn

STLF: J. Day, I. Roll,

L. Strubbe

Grad Student:

N. Holmes

Poster (PERC

2013): Doing

science or doing a

lab? Engaging

students with

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Developed &

validated physics

lab pre-post

diagnostic

Conducted study on

the impact of

invention activities

completed

preceding versus

following a lesson

End-of-term survey

Conducted studies

on the impact of

structure in

invention activities

Developed 15 invention activities on data

interpretation and analysis

Developed marking rubrics for all labs and

improved them to reward for quality of

measurements and experimental and

reflection procedures

Introduced Learning Catalytics to support

peer instruction during lab discussions and

instruction

Introduced scientific reasoning scaffolding

in early experiments to encourage

reflection and evaluation in order to

improve the quality of measurements

Introduced (weekly) reflection questions for

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Roll_PhET-sims_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2013/Posters/Roll_PhET-sims_CWSEI-EOY2013.pdfhttp://www.sei.ubc.ca/materials/sections.do?section=overView&courseId=2&departId=1http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://www.sei.ubc.ca/materials/sections.do?section=overView&courseId=2&departId=1http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdf


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scientific reasoning

during physics lab

experiments

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2011): On

Guided Invention

Activities that

Support Scientific

Reasoning and

Domain Learning

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2010):

Preparing students

for learning

through invention

activities

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2010): Using

Invention Tasks to

Help Students

Become Better

Scientists

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2009): Physics

Lab Diagnostic &

Teaching by

Building from

Student Invention

on learning and on

scientific reasoning

skills

Several additional

surveys being used

to measure student

attitudes and

motivation across

the year including

the E-CLASS (C-LASS

for Experimental

Physics) and

Achievement Goal

Questionnaire

Conducting study

on gender biases of

mix-gender groups

during experiments

Conducting study

on students’ use of

evaluation and

reflection during

experiments and

their understanding

of measurement

and uncertainties

students, to help them recognize their

development as scientists and connect their

in-class learning to other science courses

and everyday life

PHYS 107: Enriched

Physics I (Sept '10 –

Fall ‘14)

Faculty: Ian Affleck

STLF: Jim Carolan

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals: under

development

Pre & post concept

surveys completed

('10 & '11)

Lecture

observations

Student post course

interviews

completed for '10

Clicker use – developed

Online pre reading quizzes – developed

In-class activities - worksheets developed

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2011/Posters/Holmes_Roll_Bonn_Day_GuidedInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Day_PreparingStudentsForLearningThroughInventionActivities.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2010/Posters/Holmes_UsingInventionTasksToHelpStudentsBecomeBetterScientists.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/JamesDay_physlab.pdf


Page 10 of 26

and '11

Pre and post

problem solving

skills surveys

completed for '11

Used the Mechanics

Baseline Test and

the CLASS survey

PHYS 117:

Dynamics and

Waves &

PHYS 118:

Electricity, Light

and Radiation

(Sept '14 - ongoing)

Faculty: Joss Ives

and Georg Rieger

Course-level

goals and topic

–level goals:

complete

Used the FCI in

English and Chinese

Use of bi-weekly

tests

Use of two-stage

tests and exams

Conducted BEMA

survey

Development of two sections for an

international cohort of students (“Vantage

College”)

Fully interactive environment (fully

developed ‘flipped’ approach)

Complete set of reading assignments,

clicker questions, and worksheets



PHYS 119:

Experimental

Physics Lab

(Jan ’16 – ongoing)

Faculty: D. Bonn, J.

Ives, R. Kiefl

STLF: L. Strubbe

Poster (Science

Education Open

House 2016):

Developing Student

Attitudes in the

First-Year Physics

Lab at UBC

AAPT/PERC

presentations

New course

(mostly) using

first half of

curriculum

from PHYS

107/PHYS 109

Conducted CDPA at

beginning of course

Conducted ECLASS

at beginning and

end of course

Revised first three labs to introduce

confidence intervals and probability

distributions more clearly

As above in Phys 107, introduced (weekly)

reflection questions for students, to help

them recognize their development as

scientists and connect their in-class learning

to other science courses and everyday life

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Strubbe-etal_ECLASS_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdf


Page 11 of 26

forthcoming

(summer 2016)

PHYS 157 & 158:

Introductory

Physics for

Engineers I & II

[formerly PHYS

153] (Sept '10 –

ongoing)

Faculty: Sarah

Burke, Don Witt,

Andrzej Kotlicki,

Kristin Schleich,

Michael Hasinoff

STLF: Cynthia

Heiner, Louis

Deslauriers

Poster (CWSEI

EOY 2012):

Transforming

traditional large

lectures into active

learning

environments

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Compared student

performance on

exams in

transformed course

vs. earlier

traditional version

Conducted BEMA

survey

Conducted student

survey rating course

elements

Bank of clicker questions

In-class activities for entire term

Peer instruction

Learning goals were referred to throughout

the course for aligning material and for

creating exams



Use of PhET simulations in conjunction with

pre-reading assignments

PHYS 159:

Introductory

Physics Laboratory

for Engineers

[formerly part of

PHYS 153]

(Nov '11 – ongoing)

Faculty: Doug

Bonn, Jeff Young,

Michael Hasinoff,

Bill McCutcheon,

Don Witt, Evert

Koster

STLF: James Day

Course-level

goals:

complete

Two final lab exams

created, closely

aligned with course-

level learning goals

Peer assessment

between TAs, to

promote and

support deliberate

practice

Three “tutorial weeks” modified (based on

last year's TA and student feedback) to

provide students with basic skills needed

for the rest of course (i.e. use of basic stats,

uncertainty analysis, and experimental

design)

Rubrics created for individual labs

Brief pre-lab readings created

2-day TA and instructor training sessions

added

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Heiner_TransfTradLargeLectures.pdf


Page 12 of 26

PHYS 200:

Relativity and

Quanta

(Sept ’08 – 2015)

Faculty: Mark Van

Raamsdonk, J.

Karczmarek

STLF: Louis

Deslauriers

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Lecture & HW

session

observations

Analyzed Mid-term

Midterm & end-of-

term survey

Weekly interactive tutorials developed.

Improved clicker questions

Use of pencasts (J. Karczmarek)

PHYS 250:

Introduction to

Modern Physics

(2009 -2015)

Faculty: Carl

Wieman, Louis

Deslauriers

STLF: Louis

Deslauriers

click here to

view course

materials

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Development of an

extended Quantum

Mechanical

Conceptual Survey

Lecture & HW

session

observations

Two-stage exams

Analyzed Mid-term

Midterm & end-of-

term surveys

Measured long

term retention of

quantum concepts

Weekly tutorials developed

Bank of clicker questions


Measurement of long term retention for

the quantum part of course

Demonstrated a successful intervention

with lower performing students

PHYS 301:

Electricity and

Magnetism

(2009, 2014)

Faculty: Doug

Bryman

Administered the

CUE (Colorado

Upper Division

Electrostatics

Assessment, 2009 &

2014)

Clicker questions incorporated into lecture

(2014)

PHYS 304:

Introduction to

Quantum

Mechanics

(2010–2014)

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

Lecture & HW

session

observations

Measured effect of

Creating a bank of clicker questions

Designing in- class activities for every

lecture

http://www.sei.ubc.ca/materials/sections.do?section=overView&courseId=15&departId=1http://www.sei.ubc.ca/materials/sections.do?section=overView&courseId=15&departId=1


Page 13 of 26

Faculty: Kirk

Madison, Ariel

Zhitnitsky

STLF: Louis

Deslauriers

goals: 80%

complete

BONUS clicker

questions on

student

engagement during

voting period.

Compared student

performance to

previous terms –

transformed course

scores are

consistently higher

Measured student

engagement in

general - compared

it to other course

the Eng Phys

cohorts were taking

at the same time

Improved engagement during clicker

questions by adding BONUS questions

Clicker questions and weekly quizzes (2014)

PHYS 315: Physics

of Materials

(Sept ’11 – 2014)

Faculty: Vladimir

Hinkov

STLF: James Day

Poster (CWSEI

EOY '12): The

transformation of

Physics 315

click here to

view course

materials

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Homework

assignments closely

aligned to learning

goals

New clicker questions drafted and older

clicker questions improved

Training on delivery of clicker questions and

subsequent results

In-class group activities

Implementation of pre-reading

Lecture video recorded to help instructor

associate feedback on style with actual

footage

Formative midterm and year-end feedback

form created

PHYS 333: Energy

and Climate

(online)

(2014 – ongoing)

Detailed set of

learning goals

created

Piloted the

"Adaptive

comparative

judgment" online

peer review system

Problem sets linked to learning objectives

Targeted quiz questions in online materials

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Day_TransfPhys315.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Day_TransfPhys315.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Day_TransfPhys315.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Day_TransfPhys315.pdfhttp://www.sei.ubc.ca/materials/sections.do?section=overView&courseId=31&departId=1http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Day_TransfPhys315.pdfhttp://www.sei.ubc.ca/materials/sections.do?section=overView&courseId=31&departId=1


Page 14 of 26

Faculty: James

Charbonneau

(students compare

assignments based

on a supplied

rubric)

Created rubrics for

all assessments

Authentic take-home experiments with

PowerPoint-based lab reports

PHYS 401:

Electromagnetic

Theory

(Sept ’11 – 2012)

Faculty: Doug

Bryman

STLF: Peter

Newbury

Course-level

goals: draft

Topic-level

goals:

complete set

Creating in-class worksheets and clicker

questions aligned with learning goals

Focus on moving from instructor-centred to

student-centred instruction

Development of pre-reading assignments

PHYS 403:

Statistical

Mechanics

(2014)

Faculty: Mayra

Tovar

Use of clicker questions (coloured cards)

and worksheet activities (2014)

PHYS 408: Optics

(Sept ’09 – 2013)

Faculty: David

Jones

STLF: Louis

Deslauriers

Course successfully

transferred to Kirk

Madison

click here to

view course

materials

Course-level

goals:

complete

Topic-level

goals:

complete

Developd Optics

Conceptual Survey

Lecture

observations;

observed HW

sessions

Analyzed Mid-term

Compared student

performance to

previous terms –

transformed course

scores are

consistently higher

Measured student

Created a bank of clicker questions


Developed a remedial tutorial for students

lacking pre-requisite in signal processing

(Fourier Transforms)

Development of active learning materials

for two new topics: Quantum optics and

non-linear optics

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/departments/physics-astro_course-resources.htmhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/departments/physics-astro_course-resources.htm


Page 15 of 26

engagement and

compared it to

other course the

students were

taking at the same

time

PHYS 450:

Quantum

Mechanics

(Jan ’09 – 2013)

Faculty: Joshua Folk

STLF: Louis

Deslauriers

Course and

Topic level

learning goals:

95% complete

Lecture & HW

session

observations

Analyzed Mid-term

Conducted study on

impact of student

peer discussions vs.

classic instruction

on students’

knowledge

retention

Created a bank of clicker questions

(including isomorphic questions to test

longer-term retention)

PHYS 170 & 270– Mechanics diagnostic surveys are being administered annually to monitor

conceptual learning gains and aid future course development. Clicker usage is being encouraged in the

large multi-section engineering course, PHYS 170, with lecture observation and advice from STLF Jim

Carolan. Paired teaching in one section of PHYS 170.

PHYS 101 & 108 - clicker usage was developed & improved in these large freshman courses with

extensive observation and advice from Jim Carolan

Course Resources

Physics 408: Optics

Prof. David Jones Winter 2011 course website with materials

Prof. Prof. Kirk Madison Winter 2015 course website with materials

Courses archived in the SEI course materials system at https://sei.ubc.ca/ are

PHYS 101: Energy and Waves

PHYS 250: Introduction to Modern Physics

PHYS 315: Physics of Materials

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/departments/Phys408_DJones/index.htmlhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/departments/Phys408_KMadison/index.htmlhttps://sei.ubc.ca/


Page 16 of 26

Teaching Assistant Development

In the Physics and Astronomy department, we recognize that teaching assistants are front-line

educators in our program and if we are to improve the learning experience for our undergraduates we

must better prepare our graduate student TAs.

Poster (UBC 2015 Science Ed Open House): Physics & Astronomy TA Professional Development

Program

Paper (The Physics Teacher, 2013): Teaching Assistant Professional Development by and for TAs

Course-specific TA development: [2015-2016] Linda Strubbe, Dhaneesh Kumar, Derek Fujimoto and Doug Bonn have been developing a

TA training program for TAs who are teaching in the first-year physics labs (PHYS 107, 109, 119). We

hold a weekly meeting for TAs with the instructor or head TA to discuss pedagogy, practice and discuss

facilitating (e.g., invention activities), discuss likely student issues and how to address, and give TAs

practice with the experiment. This is being evaluated using a TA confidence survey and TA weekly

reflection surveys, along with observations (protocol being developed by Damien Quentin).

TA workshop and mentoring: A coordinating team of graduate students in the department developed and regularly run a very

successful, one-day interactive workshop, which started in the beginning of the 2007 fall term by former

graduate students Mya Warren, Joss Ives, and Sandy Martinuk. The workshop is required for incoming

graduate students and available to veterans as well. A system of mentor TAs provides a structure in

which senior graduate TAs oversee other graduate students in the first year undergraduate courses and

help to develop their teaching skills through a peer-mentorship framework. ‘Head TAs’ are also

deployed in each of the large multi-section courses to develop and deliver course-specific training as

follow-up throughout the term.

Many excellent resources from the training program can be found at

http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~phas_ta/, including a TA Handbook developed by current and past TA training

coordinators.

Graduate course in teaching and learning physics & astronomy: This program is enhanced by a graduate course in pedagogy in Physics & Astronomy: PHYS 520, Teaching

Techniques in Physics and Astronomy. This course exposes students to current Physics education

research literature and allows them to apply the research to their own teaching by developing activities

such as clicker questions or invention activities. In addition, many students complement this course with

a directed studies project that allows them to get involved in physics education research in the

department.

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2015/Posters/Berkman-etal_PHAS-TA-Develop_CWSEI-EOY2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2015/Posters/Berkman-etal_PHAS-TA-Develop_CWSEI-EOY2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TA-ProfDevelop_PT2013.pdfhttp://www.phas.ubc.ca/~phas_ta/http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2015/Posters/Berkman-etal_PHAS-TA-Develop_CWSEI-EOY2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TA-ProfDevelop_PT2013.pdf


Page 17 of 26

Research

Paired Teaching Electra Eleftheradou, Jared Stang, and Linda Strubbe studied the effectiveness of paired teaching as a

method of faculty development in teaching. Poster (UBC 2015 Science Ed Open House): Two models

of paired teaching in first year physics lectures, and Poster (UBC 2016 Science Ed Open House):

Paired teaching for faculty professional development. They also presented the work at conferences:

collection of conference presentations for this project

Two-Stage Exam Studies Joss Ives studied two-stage exams over multiple projects. With Simmer Mand, he modelled student

success on related clicker questions a few days after the two-stage exam (undergraduate honours

thesis). With Nutifafa Kwaku Sumah, he is analyzed video of students partaking in the group stage of the

exam to understand how students participate (undergraduate honours thesis). Analysis is ongoing with

Jared Stang, Nutifafa Kwaku Sumah, and Matias de Jong van Lier. UBC 2016 Science Ed Open House

posters

Sims to Enhance Pre-reading Jared Stang, Megan Barker, Sarah Perez, Joss Ives, and Ido Roll conducted a study in PHYS 157 on using

PhET sims (online interactive physics simulations) to enhance pre-reading assignments. UBC 2016

Science Ed Open House poster

Student Attitudes about Experimental Science Linda Strubbe is conducted a study (with Doug Bonn and Joss Ives) in PHYS 119 on student attitudes

about experimental science during the first-year physics lab. She developed pre-lab questions where

students reflect on their learning and development as a scientist, and is analyzed results from pre- and

post-semester ECLASS surveys. UBC 2016 Science Ed Open House poster

Student Attitudes on Learning Astronomy Linda Strubbe worked with Anabele Pardi (graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

in Germany) to study student attitudes during a summer school on astronomy held in Nigeria in July

2015.

Scientific Reasoning During Lab Experiments Natasha Holmes and Doug Bonn conducted ground-breaking research focused on improving students’

scientific reasoning and critical thinking in an introductory physics laboratory course. They developed a

simple learning framework that employs cycles of decisions about making and acting on quantitative

comparisons between datasets or data and models. This led to significant and sustained improvement in

students’ critical thinking behaviors. The work was published in the Proceedings of the National

Academy: N. Holmes, C. Wieman, and D. Bonn (2015) Teaching critical thinking, Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences, 112(36), pp. 11199–11204. Also see Doug Bonn's talk slides from the

UBC 2016 Science Ed Open House: Making Comparisons: A Strategy for Teaching Scientific Reasoning.

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2015/Posters/Stang-Strubbe_Paired-teaching_CWSEI-EOY2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2015/Posters/Stang-Strubbe_Paired-teaching_CWSEI-EOY2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Stang-Strubbe_Paired-Teaching_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Stang-Strubbe_Paired-Teaching_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttps://jaredstang.wordpress.com/2015/07/21/paired-teaching-for-faculty-professional-development-in-teachinghttp://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/EOYevent.html#PHAShttp://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/EOYevent.html#PHAShttp://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/EOYevent.html#PHAShttp://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/EOYevent.html#PHAShttp://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/EOYevent.html#PHAShttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Bonn_Labs-Sci-Reasoning_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Bonn_Labs-Sci-Reasoning_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2015/Posters/Stang-Strubbe_Paired-teaching_CWSEI-EOY2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Posters/Stang-Strubbe_Paired-Teaching_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2016/Bonn_Labs-Sci-Reasoning_UBC-SciEd-OH2016.pdf


Page 18 of 26

PER PhD Thesis We graduated our second PhD student in physics education research. Natasha Holmes’ thesis work

about the intervention in the Phys 107/109 labs can be found online at:

http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/51363

Gender Issues During Lab Experiments

Natasha Holmes, Ido Roll, and Doug Bonn published a paper on issues of gender during experiments.

(Physics in Canada 2014): Participating in the physics lab: does gender matter?. James Day, Jared Stang,

Natasha Holmes, Dhaneesh Kumar, and Doug Bonn have a follow-up paper on the gender gap on the

CDPA and behavior differences in the lab that could contribute to such a gap [link/citation to Physical

Review Physics Education Research].

TA-Student Interactions Jared Stang and Ido Roll published a paper on TA interactions and student engagement in the first-year

physics lab: Interactions between teaching assistants and students boost engagement in physics labs,

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. (2014)

Invention Activities and Lab Diagnostic Natasha Holmes, James Day, Idol Roll & Doug Bonn, with further assistance from students Hiroko

Nakahara, and Brad Ramshaw, studied the effectiveness of invention activities to improve students’ data

interpretation and analysis skills and understanding. This included classroom observation, pre/post

testing with a lab diagnostic, and data-mining of student work on an online system used to deliver

invention activities. The latter was used to understand how invention activities can help students

develop high level scientific reasoning skills.

Paper (2013 PER Conference Proceedings): Finding Evidence of Transfer with Invention Activities:

Teaching the Concept of Weighted Average

Paper (Instructional Science 2013): Making the failure more productive: scaffolding the invention

process to improve inquiry behaviors and outcomes in invention activities

Paper (Instructional Science 2012): Evaluating metacognitive scaffolding in guided invention activities

Paper (Physical Review ST-PER 2011): Development of the Concise Data Processing Assessment

Paper (The Physics Teacher, 2010): Teaching Standard Deviation by Building from Student Invention

Poster (CWSEI EOY 2012): The Invention Support Environment: Where Do We Go From Here?

Two-Stage Exams Cynthia Heiner, Georg Rieger, and Carl Wieman published two papers on two-stage exams:

Paper (The Physics Teacher, 2014): Physics Exams that Promote Collaborative Learning

Paper (J. College Science Teaching, 2014): Examinations That Support Collaborative Learning: The

Students’ Perspective

Reformed Phys 100 labs Georg Rieger, Michael Sitwell, Jim Carolan, and Ido Roll published a paper on the reformed Phys 100

labs. (Physics in Canada 2014): A “flipped” approach to large-scale first-year labs

http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/51363http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/51363http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/51363http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_LabsGenderEffects_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_LabsGenderEffects_PiC2014.pdfhttp://journals.aps.org/prstper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020117http://journals.aps.org/prstper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020117http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_Transfer_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_Transfer_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes_Productive-Failure-Invention_IS2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes_Productive-Failure-Invention_IS2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Roll-etal_InventionActivities_IS2012.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day-Bonn_DataProcessingAssessmt_PRST2011.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_TeachingStandardDevBlgFromStudentInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Holmes_InventionSupportEnvironment.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Wieman-Rieger-Heiner_Two-Stage-Exam_PT2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Rieger-Heiner_2-stage-Exams_JCST2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Rieger-Heiner_2-stage-Exams_JCST2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_LabsGenderEffects_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_Transfer_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes_Productive-Failure-Invention_IS2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Roll-etal_InventionActivities_IS2012.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day-Bonn_DataProcessingAssessmt_PRST2011.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_TeachingStandardDevBlgFromStudentInvention.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/EOY2012/Posters/Holmes_InventionSupportEnvironment.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Wieman-Rieger-Heiner_Two-Stage-Exam_PT2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Rieger-Heiner_2-stage-Exams_JCST2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdf


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Pre-Reading Study Cynthia Heiner and Mandy Banet (Biology) published a paper on pre-reading assignments:

Paper (American J. Physics 2014): Preparing students for class: How to get 80% of students reading

the textbook before class

Effectiveness of Astronomy Tutorial Exercises Peter Newbury completed pre- and post-testing of ASTR 310 and ASTR 311 tutorial exercises, such as

the Human Orrery. The results were presented at AAS 216, May 23-27, 2010 in Miami, FLA. In Stair’s

ASTR 311 (Fall 2010) students wrote the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory pre- and post-test.

The results were used to compare the impact of interactive, learner-centered instruction to similar

introductory astronomy courses across the U.S.

Paper (The Physics Teacher 2010): Exploring the Solar System with a Human Orrery

Poster (April 2009): Exploring the Solar System with a Human Orrery

Impact of Pre-Reading on student questions Louis Deslauriers, Georg Rieger, and Bing Dai studied the impact of pre-reading on the sophistication of

student questions during lectures. The study took place in Physics 101, 102 and 250. Results consistently

show that pre-reading along with proper incentive leads to an increase in the sophistication of student

questions.

Impact of Learning Goals Louis Deslauriers, Joshua Folk, and Georg Rieger studied the impact of learning goals on student self

assessment of their understanding in Physics 100 and Physics 101.

Peer Discussion Effect on Knowledge Retention Louis Deslauriers and Joshua Folk conducted a study in PHYS 450 aimed at comparing the effect of peer

discussions and classic instruction on students’ knowledge retention.

Conceptual Inventories CWSEI efforts in PHAS involved widespread deployment of conceptual inventories to assess student

understanding of mechanics and electricity & magnetism concepts. These included an extensive vertical

survey from first to fourth year using the new lab diagnostic, a similar vertical survey using the BEMA

diagnostic, and use of the FCI in first-year classes and second-year mechanics.

CLASS surveys Widespread deployment of CLASS (Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey) in all first year

courses, with testing done in September, December, and April of several academic years.

Newsletters

2010-2012, we published a newsletter focusing on various teaching activities taking place in conjunction

with the CWSEI STLFs. Instructors involved in a transformation, or TAs involved with or students taking

such transformed courses express their views about what works and what doesn’t, and how things can

be further improved. These 1-to-2 pages newsletters were distributed to the entire faculty in order to

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Heiner-Banet-Wieman_Pre-Reading_AJP2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Heiner-Banet-Wieman_Pre-Reading_AJP2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Astro/Newbury_HumanOrrery_TPT.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Heiner-Banet-Wieman_Pre-Reading_AJP2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Astro/Newbury_HumanOrrery_TPT.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/EOY/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdf


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keep them informed about these various efforts and give them a contact person to talk to if they

become interested in any particular aspect.

An zip archive of the newsletters is available here:

https://cwsei.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/cwsei/outcomes/departments/PHAS_SEI_newsletters_2010-

2012.zip

2012 Newsletters

Summer 2012 - Two-stage exams (individual followed by group exam)

March 2012 - Active learning in lecture courses

2011 Newsletters

December 2011 - Pre-Reading Assignments – Why they may be the most important homework for your

students

August/September 2011 - New and on-going CWSEI activities in the department

July 2011 - Effectiveness of teaching problem solving strategies

May-June 2011 - Changes in PHYS153: Elements of Physics

April 2011 - Handling student evaluations

March 2011 - Invention as Preparation for Learning study

February 2011 - Math diagnostics development

January 2011 - Changes in PHYS107: Enriched Physics I

2010 Newsletters

December 2010 - Group photo

November 2010 - Changes in ASTR 311: Exploring the Universe II: Stars and Galaxies

October 2010 - TA training and mentorship program

September 2010 - Summary of new and on-going CWSEI activities

August 2010 - Changes in PHYS101: Energy and Waves

July 2010 - Changes in PHYS200: Relativity and Quanta - introduction to special relativity and quantum

mechanics

June 2010 - Changes in ASTR310: Exploring the Universe I: The Solar System

May 2010 - Student impressions of transformed lab course

April 2010 - Upper-level Quantum Mechanics and Optics Course transformations

https://cwsei.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/cwsei/outcomes/departments/PHAS_SEI_newsletters_2010-2012.ziphttps://cwsei.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/cwsei/outcomes/departments/PHAS_SEI_newsletters_2010-2012.zip


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Impact

Transformed course counts

As of Spring 2018, we had 26 PHAS courses with CWSEI and/or Skylight influence:

Impact in terms of seats/registrations

We can look at this in terms of the 66 undergraduate courses offered by PHAS in 2017 with LEC, LAB or DST as primary activity and excluding distance ed. sections. In terms of seats/registrations (with LEC, LAB or DST as primary activity; excludes distance ed. sections):

EFFECT Seats.2012 Seats.2013 Seats.2014 Seats.2015 Seats.2016 Seats.2017

Transformed 4183 4121 6667 7094 6952 7001

Impact 883 1084 1155 1180 1108 1158

Other/None 2825 2559 1868 2068 2084 2115

EFFECT

Prop. Seats.2012

Prop.Seats.2013

Prop.Seats.2014

Prop.Seats.2015

Prop.Seats.2016

Prop.Seats.2017

Transformed 53.0% 53.1% 68.8% 68.6% 68.5% 68.1%


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Impact 11.2% 14.0% 11.9% 11.4% 10.9% 11.3%

Other/None 35.8% 33.0% 19.3% 20.0% 20.5% 20.6%

Publications and Presentations

Comment on “Benefits of completing homework for students with

different aptitudes in an introductory electricity and magnetism course”

Georg Rieger, Stefan Reinsberg (Physics & Astronomy, UBC), and Carl

Wieman (Stanford Univ.)

Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12, 028001 (2016)

Gender gaps and gendered action in a first-year physics laboratory

James Day, Jared Stang, Natasha Holmes, Dhaneesh Kumar, and Doug Bonn

(Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12, 020104 (2016)

Transforming a fourth year modern optics course using a deliberate

practice framework

David Jones & Kirk Madison (Physics & Astronomy, UBC) and Carl Wieman

(Stanford Univ.)

Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 11, 020108

(2015)

Teaching critical thinking

Natasha Holmes, Carl Wieman, and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC,

and Stanford Univ.)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(36), pp. 11199–

11204 (2015)

paper

sup

material

Quantitative Comparisons to Promote Inquiry in the Introductory Physics

Lab

Natasha Holmes and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

The Physics Teacher, Vol. 53, pp 352-355, Sept. 2015, DOI:

10.1119/1.4928350

preprint

http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking-SI_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking-SI_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1506/1506.02967.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_HomeworkBenefits_PR-PER2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day-etal_GenderGapPhysicsLab_PR-PER2016.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Jones-etal_4thYrOptics_PRST2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TeachingCriticalThinking-SI_PNAS2015.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1506/1506.02967.pdf


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Invention Activities: A Path to Expertise

James Day & Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC), Wendy Adams (U.

Northern Colorado), Carl Wieman & Daniel Schwartz (Stanford)

Physics in Canada, Special Issue on Physics Education Research, 70(2), pp.

81-83 (2014)

Participating in the Physics Lab: Does Gender Matter?

Natasha Holmes, Ido Roll, and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)


84-86 (2014)

A “flipped” approach to large-scale first-year labs

Georg Rieger, M. Sitwell, Jim Carolan, & Ido Roll (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)


126-128 (2014)

Preparing students for class: How to get 80% of students reading the

textbook before class

Cynthia Heiner (Physics, UBC), Amanda Banet (Zoology & Botany, UBC), &

Carl Wieman

American J. Physics, Vol. 82(10), pp. 989-996 (2014)

Interactions between teaching assistants and students boost engagement

in physics labs

Jared Stang & Ido Roll (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 10, 020117

(2014)

To view full

text

Not a magic bullet: the effect of scaffolding on knowledge and attitudes in

online simulations

Ido Roll, Adriana Briseno, Nikki Yee, & Ashley Welsh (UBC)

Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, in

press (2014)

preprint

The usefulness of log based clustering in a complex simulation

environment

Samad Kardan, Ido Roll, & Cristina Conati (UBC)

preprint

http://journals.aps.org/prstper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020117http://journals.aps.org/prstper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020117http://idoroll.org/resources/Publications/2014/Roll_ICLS14.pdfhttp://idoroll.org/resources/Publications/2014/Kardan_ITS14.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day-etal_InventionActivities_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_LabsGenderEffects_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Rieger-etal_FlippedLabs_PiC2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Heiner-Banet-Wieman_Pre-Reading_AJP2014.pdf


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Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring

Systems, in press (2014)

Examinations That Support Collaborative Learning: The Students’

Perspective

Georg Rieger and Cynthia Heiner (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 41-47 (2014)

Physics Exams that Promote Collaborative Learning

Carl Wieman, Georg Rieger, and Cynthia Heiner (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

The Physics Teacher, 52, pp. 51-53 (January 2014)

Finding Evidence of Transfer with Invention Activities: Teaching the

Concept of Weighted Average

James Day, Natasha Holmes, Ido Roll, and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy,

UBC)

2013 PERC Proceedings, pp. 117-120 (2014)

Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), Portland, OR, July 2013

Doing Science Or Doing A Lab? Engaging Students With Scientific

Reasoning During Physics Lab Experiments

Natasha Holmes and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)



Development of a General Undergraduate Estimation Skills Survey (GUESS)

Andrew Macdonald, Sarah Burke, and Cynthia Heiner (Physics & Astronomy,

UBC)



Multiple-choice Assessment for Upper-division Electricity and Magnetism

Bethany Wilcox & Steven Pollock (Physics, CU)


To view full

text

Making the failure more productive: scaffolding the invention process to

improve inquiry behaviors and outcomes in invention activities

Natasha Holmes, James Day, Anthony Park, Doug Bonn, and Ido Roll (Physics

& Astronomy, UBC)

http://www.compadre.org/per/items/detail.cfm?ID=13154http://www.compadre.org/per/items/detail.cfm?ID=13154http://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Rieger-Heiner_2-stage-Exams_JCST2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Wieman-Rieger-Heiner_Two-Stage-Exam_PT2014.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_Transfer_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_Transfer_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-Bonn_ScientificReasoning_poster_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Macdonald-etal_DevelopEstimationSkills_PERC13.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes_Productive-Failure-Invention_IS2013.pdf


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Instructional Science, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 523-538 (2014; pub online Nov

2013)

Teaching Assistant Professional Development by and for TAs

Natasha Holmes, Matthew Martinuk, Joss Ives, and Mya Warren (Physics &

Astronomy, UBC)

The Physics Teacher, 51, pp. 218-219 (2013)

Evaluating metacognitive scaffolding in guided invention activities

Ido Roll, Natasha Holmes, James Day, & Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy,

UBC)

Instructional Science, Vol. 40, pp. 691-710 (2012)

Development of the Concise Data Processing Assessment

James Day and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, Vol. 7, 010114

(2011)

Improved Learning in a Large Enrollment Physics Class

Louis Deslauriers, Ellen Schelew, and Carl Wieman (Physics & Astronomy

and CWSEI, UBC)

Science, Vol. 332, no. 6031 pp. 862-864 (May 2011)

To view full

text

Learning And Retention of Quantum Concepts with Different Teaching

Methods

Louis Deslauriers and Carl Wieman (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, Vol. 7, 010101

(2011)

Exploring the Solar System with a Human Orrery

Peter Newbury (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

The Physics Teacher (December 2010)

To view a video of this activity, click HERE.

Teaching Standard Deviation by Building from Student Invention

James Day, Hiroko Nakahara, and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/332/6031/862?ijkey=GMW4zTHNMM1Tc&keytype=ref&siteid=scihttp://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/332/6031/862?ijkey=GMW4zTHNMM1Tc&keytype=ref&siteid=scihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju4cfEp2BgUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju4cfEp2BgUhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes-etal_TA-ProfDevelop_PT2013.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Roll-etal_InventionActivities_IS2012.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day-Bonn_DataProcessingAssessmt_PRST2011.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Deslauriers-Wieman_QuantumRetention_PRST-PER_2011.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Astro/Newbury_HumanOrrery_TPT.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Day_TeachingStandardDevBlgFromStudentInvention.pdf


Page 26 of 26

The Physics Teacher, 48 (November 2010)

The Impact of Targeted Learning Goals on Student Attitudes about

Experimental Physics

Natasha Holmes, Joss Ives, and Doug Bonn (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), Minneapolis, MN, July 2014

Students’ perspectives on pre-class reading assignments

Cynthia Heiner (Physics and Astronomy, UBC) and Amanda Banet (Zoology,

UBC)

Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research: Puget Sound

(June 2012)

Exploring the Solar System with a Human Orrery

Peter Newbury, Melanie Gendre, Brett Gladman, Laura Kasian, Nicole

Meger,and Harvey Richer (Physics & Astronomy, UBC)

214th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Pasadena, CA (June

2009)

Related Department Links

Physics & Astronomy Dept. home: https://www.phas.ubc.ca/

Physics & Astronomy Dept. teaching support page: https://www.phas.ubc.ca/teaching-support
https://www.phas.ubc.ca/https://www.phas.ubc.ca/teaching-supporthttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Holmes_LearningGoalsImpact_poster_PERC14.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Physics/Heiner-Banet_PreReading_FFPERPS2012.pdfhttp://cwsei.ubc.ca/SEI_research/files/Astro/PeterNewbury_HumanOrrery_ASTR310.pdf

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